Life in the Village

“You are real African women now. You are women of substance.”

These are the words Beth, our gracious hostess, spoke to us as we prepared to head back to Mbarara.

I didn’t really know what to expect heading into our 3-night home stay in Kamwenge village, but I can now say with confidence that I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it anywhere else! I returned home feeling blessed, inspired, appreciative, and refreshed.

Beth is the head nursery school teacher at Kamwenge Secondary Vocational Institute (KSVI), a school started by an incredible man of God whose life is a reflection of missional-living and obedience to God. Reverend John saw a great need in Kamwenge for quality, Christ-centered education. Kamwenge is an area that is occupied by Ugandans who immigrated to Tanzania during the rule of Amin. Eventually Tanzania forced them to leave, and when these people came back to Uganda they had no land or homes to return to, so the government gave them a piece of land, Kamwenge, where they now live.

Reverend John noticed that the people of Kamwenge were not valuing the importance of education as many children simply did not go to school and girls were dropping out to get married at the age of 14 or 15. He wanted to provide a place for the youth to receive an education in an environment that glorifies the Lord. “There are some places where it’s hard to go and hard to live, Places where people don’t want to go… and that’s where I go.” And that is how KSVI started some years ago.

Two years ago, Reverend John recruited Beth to move from Mbarara, where she was established as a teacher and active member of her church, to start a nursery school for the little ones of Kamwenge at KSVI. Reverend told us that it’s really God who does the recruiting. He simply invites the teachers to join in God’s work. Teachers who chose to serve at KSVI are not there for the money or for the location. They are there because they love the Lord, are passionate about teaching, and want to inspire students to learn and reach their highest potential. Are you starting to get a feel for the weightiness of the work and ministry this school is doing?

I was told that Beth might be the best primary school teacher in all of Uganda (though she would never say that!), and after spending the past few days with her and watching her interact with both children and adults, I find it hard to fight that bold statement. Not only is her classroom amazing, her teaching practices are developmentally appropriate, and she has a heart of gold. Her love for the Lord is evident and permeates all that she does. She is a teacher through and through and strives to humbly serve the Lord with her talents and skills. There were many times when I just wanted to give her a big hug as she shared her thoughts about the importance of early childhood education, how the first years of life are foundational for shaping the rest of one’s life, the importance of play, how “disability does not mean inability,” how children learn, and how she wants children “to develop a love for books.”  Ah… those words are like honey for my heart! We truly speak the same language.

There are so, so many things I could say about the past 3 and a half days! We were able to experience what it’s like to live in the village (yes, that means no electricity or running water and cooking outside with a couple charcoal stoves) and see what typical days are like for African women. Hard work, that’s what they’re like! But when the work is shared with good company and much laughter is involved, the days fly by! Here is a general run-down of how we spent our time in Kamwenge:

Wake up around 7 or 7:30

Light the charcoal stove pots every morning

Boil water for tea

Wash dishes from the night before each morning and various times throughout the day

Sweep the house

Spend about 2 hours preparing lunch and another 2 preparing for dinner

Walk about 3 miles from the trading center back to KSVI carrying ingredients for cooking chipati

Sit around talking after dinner, listening to music, or “giving speeches”

Shell, pound, and cook g-nuts to make sauce

Weed the garden

Walk to see some homes of Beth’s students and visit an orchard

Taught each other games

Make chipati (This was our final exam for becoming “real African women”… we passed!)

Go to bed around 9 or 9:30

Some highlights of my time there are:

• Seeing the majestic Rwenzori Mountains as the sun was setting

• Giving speeches within an assigned scenario after dinner on Monday night. Africans love giving speeches! Long, long speeches. Ours were very short but very funny, memorable, and created a great bonding experience.
• Learning to make some traditional Ugandan foods, including matooke, g-nut sauce, and chipati!

• Spending time with some of Beth’s students in her classroom and seeing how much they love her. We played games with them, and they sang fantastic songs and recited Mother Goose rhymes for us. It made me so excited to meet my own students soon!
• Soaking up words of wisdom and inspiration from Reverend John and Beth about life, education, Uganda, and missions
• Enjoying Beth’s many quotable quotes…
• When talking about how she takes her tea: “I’m a milk warrior. When it’s there, I cannot miss it.”
• “You know, I think that when people were singing Kumbaya they were actually trying to say ‘Come back here,’ and they severely mispronounced it.”
• When it was her turn to give a speech, and she tried to leave the room: “I’m going to give a fly speech. You know, a fly goes here and then here and then just flies away.”
• Singing Christmas carols as we prepared dinner over charcoal stoves in the dark
• Practicing my Runyankole and learning new words and phrases. I loved greeting the groups elderly women we passed as we walked and hearing them laugh with surprise and talk amongst themselves wondering how I knew to say that! I have wonderful teachers.

Needless to say, our home stay couldn’t have been more educational, fun, or inspiring! A home stay could have easily been many other things, but God saw fit to place us with this dear family, and for that I’m incredibly thankful. Not only did we get a chance to practice Runyankole and learn more about the Ugandan schools and teaching here, we also come back to Mbarara carrying new and dear friends in our hearts who we intend to see again soon! God has been so very good and gracious to me, and I’m thankful for this opportunity to meet Ugandans who are whole-heartedly and genuinely seeking and serving Him to the ends of the earth.

Before eating dinner one evening, we sang “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” My favorite line of that hymn simply says, “Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,” and as we sung it together I thought how perfectly it describes the life of these women serving, teaching, and living at KSVI. There are many struggles each day. Life is not easy there. But God gives them strength each day to do His work, and they certainly have big dreams and hopes for the future of the youth in Kamwenge village! I thank the Lord for their work (“webele kukora”… thanks for your work) and for allowing us a glimpse into their lives and hearts this week!